Simply the Best: Increasing Achievement, Engagement, Belonging, and Joy

Dr. Nicole West-Burns is an experienced professional development consultant whose work focuses on educational equity issues. For more than a decade, Dr. West-Burns has had the pleasure of working in some capacity of professional learning with over 50% of school boards in the province of Ontario. Major components of her work include supporting the pedagogical framework of Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogy (CRRP) and utilizing Critically Conscious Practitioner
Inquiry (West-Burns, 2016) as a process for school and classroom change.

From 2013-2019, Dr. West-Burns was a leader on equity initiatives in collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of Education. As a facilitator, she co-developed and co-led professional learning tied to CRRP for 39 school boards across the province.

For several years, Dr. West-Burns was a faculty member in the Master of Teaching program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE, University of Toronto). Prior to this teaching role, Dr. West-Burns was the Director of School Services within the Centre for Urban Schooling at OISE. From that work, Dr. West-Burns served as a lead writer on the text the Equity Continuum: Action for Critical Transformation in Schools and Classrooms, which has been required reading for the Ontario Principals’ Council.

In 2019, Dr. West-Burns delivered a TEDx speech entitled “Building Critical Consciousness for Educational Equity”. Her talk suggests possibilities of what a truly equitable educational system would look like, and the work educators might consider to move in that direction.

In 2021, Dr. West-Burns was both a member of the advisory committee and the guideline writing team for the Ontario College of Teachers’ new course focused on challenging Anti-Black Racism in education.

In the 2022-2023 academic year, Dr. West-Burns has been leading professional learning within several school boards focused on anti-oppression and equity, including specific work focused on challenging Anti-Black Racism in education. Some of her clients include Toronto District School Board, Durham District School Board, Peel District School Board, Halton District School Board, Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, and Upper Grand District School Board, among others.